fictional spring

"Because I'm waiting for you, I have something to ask you."

The child opened his big round eyes and looked at me intently: "Is it because I did something wrong?"

He asked such a question.

When he said this, his eyes kept lingering on my face, as if to read something from my expression, which makes people feel——

This child seems to be a bit too skilled at things like observing words and expressions.

However, thinking about what my father said when he talked with me before, this child was considered to be able to hear the voice of the gods because of his natural colored eyes, and he was regarded as the son of God in the past.

So I held his hands and looked back at him: "It's not your fault."

This is indeed the truth, Tong Mo did not do anything wrong, so there is no need to worry about it.

He tilted his head, with a puzzled expression on his face: "But Master Qingzhi seems very unhappy, is it because he hates me?"

"That's because..." I hesitated for a moment, and replied, "He has this kind of personality."

He doesn't like to communicate with others, and he doesn't like to communicate with others. Under this premise, he is willing to let me into his room, and is willing to sit in front of me and read travel notes for me. What I enjoy is already a very rare treatment. .

Wen Yan Tongmo blinked his eyes, as if he was judging the truth of my words, after a while, he pursed his lips, and asked me seriously: "Does Miss Muyue hate me?"

I smiled, shook my head and said, "Of course not."

It's true that I can't read any changes in mood from Tong Mo, but just judging from his extremely well-behaved and sensible appearance, it won't make people feel disgusted.

It can even be said - it is more lovable.

What kind of life in the past made him look like this?

This is what I have no way of knowing.

Without deliberately asking him about his past and the reason, I sent him back to the room, let go of his hand at the door, touched his head and said, "Go to bed earlier."

The child stood at the door and looked at me, raised his face and said to me in a brisk and lively tone: "Ms. Muyue, good night."

I closed the barrier for him: "Good night, Tong Mo."

A few days later, after lunch, I was flipping through a collection of poems in my room, when suddenly there was the sound of pattering footsteps in the corridor, and Tong Mo, who had already put on new clothes, put his hands on my barrier door, and only leaned out. Look at me with half your head.

I raised my face, and what I saw was his cautious appearance.

"Why don't you just come in?"

I put down the collection of poems in my hand and waved to him.

Seeing this, the child stuck his head in again, looked around, as if he was looking for something, and then ran to me and sat down.

"Are you looking for something?" I asked, "If you want something, you can tell me directly."

Tong Mo's sitting posture is extremely well-behaved, it seems to be a long-standing habit because he often needs to listen to the confessions of believers.

So much so that he is not as active as other children of this age at all, but can sit for a whole day.

The child blinked and said to me, "No."

That being the case, I didn't delve further into this issue, and was about to put away the collection of poems and go out with him for a walk, but Tong Mo leaned over and stared at those papers curiously.

"Does Miss Mutsuki like reading?"

he asks.

Seeing me nodding, his eyes seemed to be a little brighter again, like rainbows illuminated by the sun, so beautiful that people couldn't look away.

"Then may I hear you read?"

Such a request...

I agreed.

Tong Mo is a very smart child. Although he is still young and has never been taught to learn calligraphy before, when I read those verses to him, he can quickly repeat them following my way of reading.

—he seemed very interested in these things.

Because of this, Tong Mo, who was just sitting in front of me, crawled into my arms at some point, and watched with me the verses I read to him.

Because it is a Chinese character, the way of pronouncing it is also very different from our usual pronunciation. I was able to understand a lot because my mother taught me all the time when I was young, but Tong Mo was able to comprehend me just by listening to me read it once. The verses that have been read are repeated in style.

It is impossible not to be surprised, "Did Tong Mo really never learn it before?"

I looked at the top of his oak-white hair, the child turned his head and looked back at me: "No."

He explained: "My father and my mother can't read books, and the believers can only talk to me, so...Ms. Muyue is the first person to read for me."

He smiled softly, his immature face full of carefree expression: "You are also the first person to teach me how to read."

I couldn't help but hugged the child in my arms, held him and read the collection of poems for a long time, until the sky was getting dark, and the figure belonging to the boy appeared in the corridor as usual.

It was Qing Zhi who came to ask me to go to the main hall for dinner.

When his eyes touched Tong Mo in my arms, his complexion seemed to change, his brows were slightly frowned, and his plum red eyes darkened a bit.

He walked a few steps into the room and asked, "What are you doing?"

Before I could answer, Tong Mo got off me, ran up to him holding a collection of poems and said to him, "Miss Muyue is teaching me how to read."

Qingzhi's complexion did not change, not only that, but it seemed to have become even uglier.

Sure enough, he still doesn't like Tong Mo.

Although I don't quite understand the reason, but there's no need to worry about it, I stood among them, holding Tong Mo with one hand and Qing Zhi with the other.

"Okay, let's go to the main hall first."

The boy's wrist is obviously different from that of a child's. You can feel it from the bones alone. Not only that, but the straight fingers are not as small as when you first saw them, but become thinner and slender.

However, Qing Zhi seems to have always been very concerned about my teaching Tong Mo to practice calligraphy.

And after dinner, when Tong Mo looked at me with round eyes, he even offered to let him teach.

I have some doubts that I heard wrong.

Would Qingzhi be willing to teach Tongmo how to learn calligraphy?

"Why, can't I?"

It's not because of such an idea, it just feels a little weird.

This kind of astonishment lasted until the three of us were really sitting in my room, and Tong Mo and I were sitting together, listening to Qingzhi and reading, but we still haven't recovered.

So when Tong Mo went back to his room and Qing Zhi stayed with me, I tentatively asked, "Are you angry?"

Although I didn't say a word or make any outrageous actions, I just have this feeling.

"No."

He denied it very quickly.

It sounds like a lie, but it's really not frank...

"Is it because I read to Tong Mo?"

I asked him.

——So I was afraid that I would no longer be his sister alone.Such a reason does not seem unreasonable.

But Qingzhi didn't look at me, and continued to organize the bookcase as if he didn't hear me.

And every time I read a book on weekdays, I put it back to the original position, and there is no need to tidy it up.

——That's why I guessed wrong.

"Clear?"

I called his name and suddenly thought of something.

"...Is it because I haven't held you to school?"

After saying this sentence, Qingzhi paused in putting down the book, and after a while, he continued the previous movement—but the speed slowed down.

It is because of this reason...

A boy between immature and mature, although occasionally showing a very reliable and calm side, but sometimes, because of some trivial things, he will sulk alone.

Once I figured out the reason, I couldn't help but laugh a little.At the same time, I feel helpless——

"Then just tell me."

I said, wrapping my arms around his waist from behind him.

The young man who was already a few points taller than me seemed to be in an extremely stiff state at this moment, and when I pressed my face against his back, he was still motionless.

But since he didn't break free, it meant no resistance.

After a while, when I let go of him, the boy's state has undergone a great change - he turned his face away as if he didn't dare to look at me.

I couldn't see his expression clearly at this time, nor could I see the look in his eyes, so I had to say good night to him and let him go back to rest early.

"……Um."

He agreed in a low voice, his voice seemed a little strange.

On the morning of the second day, when I got up, Qingzhi had already left the door, and when the maid was changing my clothes, she mentioned something she had heard recently.

"I heard the master and Sanada-sama talking about this when I went to the study to deliver the tea," she said, and added: "I just heard a few words when I was pouring the tea."

"What's the matter?"

Let her reveal a mysterious look.

The maid leaned close to my ear and whispered, "There seems to be traces of ghosts in Edo Castle."

I was taken aback when I heard that, and looked at her: "Why do you say that?"

"Because I heard Mrs. Sanada say that the Fujimoto family in Nakamachi seems to have been attacked by ghosts." She couldn't help but widen her eyes when she said this, and her tone became more and more mysterious: "Everyone in the house, including the servants. They were all killed, and not a single one was found alive."

This description...

"Isn't it a thief who broke in?"

Just like the blood-headed Danbei a few years ago, he did almost the same thing.

The maid shook her head: "But the Fujimoto family didn't lose any property, if it was a thief..."

"That might be the enemy, too."

I put forward another possibility, and this is also the most appropriate truth in my opinion.

After all, although I believe in the existence of ghosts, it is unreasonable to put everything on ghosts.

The maid shook her head: "But I heard that the corpses of the Fujimoto family didn't look like they were wounded by swords, but more like they were cut open by the claws of some beast... Where can there be real beasts in Edo City? ?”

Having said that, it made me feel a little concerned.

So after Qingzhi came back, I casually mentioned this matter to him.

"Is that so?" Qingzhi responded lightly, "I didn't hear anything."

However, the maid who was also following me at that time told me after returning to the room at night.

"Young master of the Fujimoto family, he is obviously a fellow student of swordsmanship in the same gymnasium as Master Qingzhi..."